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Presented as-is.
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Alicia Jackson named Director of ARPA-H: a full brief
Bottom line: Alicia Jackson—entrepreneur, former DARPA exec, and founder/CEO of Evernow—was sworn in on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025 as the new Director of ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health), replacing Acting Director Jason Roos. Her mandate: steer ARPA-H’s high-risk, high-reward portfolio amid shifting budgets and priorities, building on prior work in synthetic biology, women’s health, and translational tech. (Bloomberg)
Who she is
Entrepreneur & operator. Jackson founded Evernow, a telehealth platform focused on menopause/perimenopause, and previously co-founded Drawbridge Health (at-home blood sampling). Public profiles and prior interviews consistently frame her as an operator obsessed with translating frontier tech into usable care models. (The Well News)
DARPA pedigree. Before entrepreneurship, Jackson served as Deputy Director of DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office and earlier as a program manager overseeing a large synthetic-biology portfolio—experience directly relevant to ARPA-style program design, milestones, and rapid iteration. Public talks from that period highlight her emphasis on “programming the living world” and scaling bio-platforms. (Executive Gov)
Academic foundation. She holds a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering (Nanotechnology) from MIT. (Executive Gov)
The appointment
Date & succession. HHS confirmed Jackson’s appointment; she was sworn in Oct. 20, 2025, and replaces Acting Director Jason Roos, who had led ARPA-H since February. Multiple outlets corroborate timing and succession. (Bloomberg)
Term mechanics. Under the ARPA-H authorizing statute, the Director’s term is 4 years, and the President may extend one additional 4-year term—a deliberate design to balance continuity with accountability. (Congress.gov)
Context from early reporting. Contemporary round-ups note that ARPA-H’s FY2024 budget was about $1.5B, with an administration request near $945M for the new cycle and program cancellations reported in some areas—conditions that define the fiscal/policy landscape Jackson inherits.
What ARPA-H does (and what she’s taking over)
Mission & model. ARPA-H backs high-risk, high-reward programs that traditional funders avoid, using term-limited program managers, aggressive go/no-go milestones, and problem-backed (not discipline-backed) portfolios—very much the DARPA model transplanted into health. Public descriptions and program lists consistently reference precision oncology, genetic-medicine manufacturing, neuro-repair, and musculoskeletal regeneration. (Bloomberg)
Illustrative awards. Recent examples include large, time-boxed, multi-institution awards (e.g., whole-eye transplantation efforts) that capture the agency’s “if it works, it changes healthcare” ethos. (Ophthalmology Times)
Operating authority. The law codifies ARPA-H’s use of 3-year, renewable PM terms and empowers rapid budgeting/contracting relative to standard NIH lines—mechanics Jackson knows well from DARPA. (Congress.gov)
Strategic read on Jackson’s leadership
1) Translation at speed. Jackson’s company-building track record (Evernow) suggests an instinct for clinical deployment, patient experience, and reimbursement pathways, which could push ARPA-H to bake implementation into program milestones (e.g., real-world data capture, payer readiness, manufacturability) rather than stopping at technical proof. (MedCity News)
2) Platform bias. Her synthetic biology/materials background maps to platform bets (manufacturing, delivery, measurement, data plumbing) vs single-asset bets—aligned with ARPA-H’s existing thrusts in personalized genetic medicines and biomanufacturing. Expect emphasis on scale-up, safety, and supply-chain robustness. (Bloomberg)
3) Women’s health as a systems problem. Because Evernow is centred on women’s midlife health, anticipate attention to women’s health data gaps, device/drug UX, and population-scale monitoring—continuing ARPA-H’s recent interest in women’s health “sprints,” but with more rigorous outcome ties. (X (formerly Twitter))
4) Portfolio hygiene in leaner times. With reporting of a tighter request vs. prior outlays, expect harder down-selects, faster pruning, and sharper benefit/risk narratives to defend survivor programs. Jackson’s DARPA experience implies comfort killing programs that miss milestones—key when budgets compress.
Near-term priorities to watch
• Program resets & culls. Track which efforts are re-scoped versus terminated, and how milestone bars change; this will telegraph Jackson’s tolerance for risk and her time-to-impact lens. (Bloomberg)
• New PM hires. Watch the mix of program managers (industry vs academia vs government). The ARPA-H law’s term-limited PMs create strategic churn; the people she brings in will define the next wave of bets. (Congress.gov)
• Cross-agency bridges. Expect tighter threads to ASPR, FDA (CBER/CDRH), CMS, and DoD (for dual-use platforms), mirroring DARPA’s ecosystem playbook. (Inference based on her DARPA background and ARPA-style translational demands.) (Bloomberg)
• Evidence & deployment. Look for explicit RWE plans, payer coverage pilots, and manufacturing pilots embedded in solicitations—signals that the portfolio is being tuned for uptake, not just demonstrations. (Inference grounded in her Evernow/translational history.) (MedCity News)
Risks & constraints
Budget volatility. Press accounts describe lower top-line requests relative to the prior year, plus program cancellations in selected areas—raising the bar for program survival and stakeholder management. Implication: PMs will need tighter milestones and clearer articulation of clinical & economic value to weather the cycle.
Governance churn. ARPA-H underwent a leadership transition earlier in 2025; Jackson’s arrival stabilizes the org chart but also introduces portfolio re-triage risk for ongoing efforts. (The Well News)
Policy signaling. Although ARPA-H is within HHS, its Director is presidentially appointed with a fixed term—creating durability but also placing the agency in the crosshairs of broader administration priorities. (Congress.gov)
Why this matters (for researchers, startups, and payers)
For investigators: Expect crisper, more translational solicitations—with built-in manufacturability and RWE components. The culture will favor teams that ship.
For startups: Jackson’s operator lens may open co-development models and use-case pilots that derisk adoption. But anticipate harder gates and the need for payer-credible endpoints.
For payers & systems: Portfolio decisions will likely push toward deployable platforms—precision cancer, genetic-medicine manufacturing, neuro-repair, women’s health—with evidence designs built to shorten the path to coverage and procurement. (Bloomberg)
Sources & further reading
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Bloomberg confirmation and role context; timing of swearing-in and budget scale. (Bloomberg)
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The Well News on succession (Roos → Jackson), role overview, and prior budget reference. (The Well News)
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ExecutiveGov profile recap (background, DARPA, Evernow) referencing contemporaneous reporting. (Executive Gov)
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Statute: ARPA-H Act—Director’s 4-year term and PM appointment authority. (Congress.gov)
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Programs examples & public mission framing (e.g., eye-transplant initiative; “high-risk/high-reward”). (Ophthalmology Times)
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Background on Jackson’s entrepreneurial and DARPA work (Evernow, public talks). (MedCity News)
From your attached brief (Politico/others): appointment date, budget request context, Jackson’s entrepreneurial background, and DARPA history, plus program-cancellation notes and the earlier consideration under the prior administration.
If you’d like, I can tailor this into a trade-press article or an internal client memo with key talking points, risk table, and a watchlist of programs likely to be re-scoped under Jackson.
